A holding device is mainly used in a vehicle for holding an electronic apparatus, such as mobile phone, PDA, and so on. The conventional holding device includes two moveable clamping pieces. The holding device also includes springs to provide the force to move the two moveable clamping pieces transversely to each other. The holding device further includes a set of stop pieces to control and lock the clamping pieces to a certain position so that the electronic apparatuses of different sizes can dock fastened. The holding device also includes a release unit for releasing the stop pieces from the locking position so that the spring will force the moveable clamping pieces and release the electronic apparatus from the holding device. U.S. Pat. No. 5,305,381 disclosed a holding device of this design. However, a holding device of this design has the following disadvantages:
1. Noise: When the release unit unlocks the stop pieces from the locking position, the spring will force the clamping pieces to the snap and stop at a pre-determined position. The snapping and stopping incurs the clashing of the clamping pieces at the pre-determined position, which will generate loud sound.
2. Inconvenience: Usually the pre-determined position at the push of the release unit is too wide apart. The current products usually allow larger space between clamping pieces as to hold electronic apparatus of various sizes. However, for holding small-sized electronic apparatus, the snapping of the clamping pieces to a wide-apart pre-determined position may cause the small-sized electronic apparatus to fall off the seat of the holding device.
Therefore, it is important to provide improvement over the conventional holding device. Based on the design disclosed in the U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/140,372 and the U.S. Publication No. 2005/0236536, an improved design of a holding device is provided.